Orlovia
Some dog owners almost despair: As soon as it comes to cleaning the house, extensive planning has to be done. Not that the beloved four-legged friend stands around in front of your feet or disturbs you when cleaning the windows – no. But the biggest enemy is the vacuum cleaner. The noise scares many dogs, which makes it difficult for the owner to simply vacuum the apartment “quickly”. What to do? Lock the dog away? Ask a friend to go for a walk with him or her? Or wipe instead of vacuum? There are a few evasive maneuvers, but in the end, you want to get rid of the problem, not least for the benefit of the animal. Reactions vary from pinching the tail (a clear sign of genuine fear) to ducking the head, to losing a few droplets of urine. Often the simple sight of the vacuum cleaner is enough and the noise is all it takes. In order not to further stress your darling and to enable you to still be able to pursue the spring cleaning in a relaxed manner, I have dealt with the problem solution for you today.
Where Does This Fear Come From?
First of all, the vacuum cleaner is a fairly large device. In addition, it is often not in daily use or not regularly enough for you to get used to it. And: It makes noise! It goes without saying that dogs don’t like that. Because their hearing is much more sensitive than humans. In addition, a vacuum cleaner sounds – to us humans – just like a vacuum cleaner. But to your dog, he sounds like a big, bad predator. And on top of that, the vacuum cleaner moves.
Every corner is agile and fast. This also applies to a predator. So this is about overcoming a real primal instinct and tolerating the sometimes painfully loud noise. Why is the sound sometimes painful for dogs? Well, as already mentioned, human hearing is a completely different thing. Dogs can detect frequencies that we humans do not perceive at all. That’s why there are a lot of dogs that really torture themselves on New Year’s Eve.
How Do You Know It’s Fear?
Your dog may flee as soon as you get the vacuum cleaner out of the broom closet. It makes a striking difference whether your four-legged friend gets scared when he just sees the device or only when you turn on the vacuum and the typical noise sounds. You have to prove to your dog that this is an everyday situation and not a natural enemy. If you’ve recently brought a puppy into the family home, get him used to the hoovering rite from the start so that such a deep-seated fear doesn’t develop in the first place.
How Do I Handle This?
First of all, you can use your four-legged friend’s healthy appetite: Well, as a reward for enduring this electrical monster, there is a treat. I would also recommend leaving the vacuum cleaner in the middle of the hallway for 2 days, for example. This means that your dog has to pass this monster several times a day and will eventually notice that the device is not making any noise if you are not working with it.
Sniffing is clearly allowed and even encouraged! You can then increase the level of difficulty: while vacuuming, simply put the vacuum cleaner down and lure your sweetheart a little closer to the vacuum cleaner with a treat. In the end, your fur child should even snack right next to the running device, until it might even be possible in the end that he or she eats the treat directly from the running vacuum cleaner.
Ideally, you build up such a trusting relationship that your dog may even let you vacuum its fur. In order to convey further courage, you can simply suck off your own arm with the suction device in the presence of your dog, for example. In addition, it would be good if you then say the command “Fine!” clearly and leave as satisfied an impression as possible. So: Voice very gently, facial expression friendly, and posture as relaxed as possible. If none of that works, one last tip: There are now dog-friendly vacuum cleaners. During production, the frequency of the sucker noises was taken into account and adapted to the dogs’ hearing.